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Sunday, May 25, 2014

Every Breath We Take

Friends,

This is a new blog which will address the shenanigans of more than my Mining and Energy Commission family members.Doings of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) , Environmental Management Commission (EMC), the Governor and that big happy family which resides at the North Carolina General Assembly will all have starring and lesser roles here.

My! The Jones Street branch of my dysfunctional family has been busy in the just over 7 days they came back from vacation! This first post is about clean air. You remember clean air? Look fast, because the North Carolina Senate is poised to pass S734 which, among other things, extremely limits a community's ability to appeal an air permit decision, and will make the Division of Air Quality take off-line or remove any ambient monitoring stations not required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Among the monitors in jeopardy is the baseline ambient monitor in Lee County, which was sited to monitor the air prior to the commencement of fracking there. Bill puts Lee County air monitor at risk May. 25, 2014

The bill also allows polluters to "self-report" violations without fear of enforcement actions and to keep internal audits out of the hands of state regulators. You can read more at former DENR Secretary of Environment Robin Smith's blog: http://www.smithenvironment.com/.

In 2012, the General Assembly effectively dismantled the air toxics program. See Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League Report: “First, they came for...” The North Carolina Legislature’s Assault on the Public.In November 2013, after a recommendation from the Division of Air Quality and the Science Advisory Board on Air Toxics, the Environmental Management Commission voted to increase the allowable ambient limit of arsenic in the air ninefold. An excerpt from the BREDL "First We Came For" report:

“Even the Cat’s in on it!” -Mortimer Brewster Arsenic and Old Lace

Because of these troubling admissions, BREDL staffer Therese Vick began investigating the history behind the reevaluation. After a review of DAQ documents and several web searches, it became clear that the impetus behind the requested change was likely coming from influences outside of NC DENR. For example, in the “PSD Preliminary Review – modification 300 construction/operation permit (Draft Revision 8, July 2011 – Assistant Secretary)” for Carolinas Cement Company LLC (aka Titan Cement) proposed to be located in Castle Hayne, North Carolina, the modeled arsenic levels are at 30% of the AAL— according to the company’s own modeling and after pollution control. The amount of arsenic potentially emitted into the air of the surrounding community is significant and dangerous. In the Draft Revision, DAQ attempts to diminish the potential concern over these levels by saying “Finally, the ScientificAdvisory Board is considering adjusting the Arsenic AAL.”As troubling as 30% is, it pales in comparison to the almost 48% of the AAL modeled in an earlier draft.

Industry is certainly following this proposed change very closely, and their relationship with the DAQ is inappropriate at best. Industry admits that sources are having problems meeting the arsenic AAL. Trinity Consultants, a North Carolina environmental consulting firm posted this on their website:

has often been problematic in TAP air dispersion modeling. In some cases, affected

facilities have had to improve pollution control systems, increase stack heights or place

operational limits to demonstrate compliance with the arsenic AA(L)."

At the November 2010 meeting of the SAB, Brendan Davey, DAQ staff from the Asheville Regional Office, remarked that “there are a few combustion sources in the Asheville region that are having difficulty complying with the AAL for arsenic given current regulations”, “the control technology for these emissions is insufficient...”Mr. Davey was speaking of Blue Ridge Paper in Canton, Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company in Silva, and Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring Company in Franklin, NC Perhaps most troubling is the downward trend in enforcement actions. This chart is from a DAQ document summarizing enforcement actions since 2009. "NOD's" are notices of deficiency supposedly reserved for minor permit violations. "NOV's" are notices of violation which can result in fines or other enforcement actions.